Word.ws English Dictionary

caruncle

UK/ˈka.ɹəŋ.kəl//ˈkɛɹˌʌŋ.kəl/

caruncle noun: a small, fleshy excrescence that is a normal part of an animal's anatomy. Also the clipping of lacrimal caruncle.

Noun

caruncle (plural caruncles)

  1. A small, fleshy excrescence that is a normal part of an animal's anatomy.
  2. A colored waxy or oily outgrowth near the micropyle of some seeds, attractive to ants which aid the seed's dispersal.
    Synonyms:
    elaiosome

Also used as

caruncle is also the clipping of lacrimal caruncle.

Synonyms of caruncle

Forms of caruncle

pluralcaruncles

Origin of caruncle

Borrowed from Middle French caruncule, from Latin caruncula (“a little piece of flesh”), diminutive of carō (“flesh”). Doublet of caruncula.

Words formed from caruncle

Phrases with caruncle

Questions about caruncle

What does caruncle mean?
Caruncle means a small, fleshy excrescence that is a normal part of an animal's anatomy.
What part of speech is caruncle?
Caruncle is a noun.
How do you pronounce caruncle?
Caruncle is pronounced /ˈka.ɹəŋ.kəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of caruncle?
The plural of caruncle is caruncles.

Words near caruncle in the dictionary

  1. carucates
  2. Carucci
  3. Caruccis
  4. carumbelloside
  5. carumonam
  6. caruncle
  7. carunclectomies
  8. carunclectomy
  9. caruncles
  10. caruncula
  11. carunculae

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caruncle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-caruncle.wav.

Cite this entry: “caruncle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caruncle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.